Glover's family questions verdict; juror explains decision

Published: Friday, May 17, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 10:09 p.m.

On May 7, a Henderson County jury found Jermaine Deprie Glover guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, Misty Lynn Carter. But nearly two weeks after the verdict, Glover's family members say he is innocent and there isn't enough evidence to say otherwise.

After examining evidence presented at Glover's second trial, one juror feels the panel made the right decision. Glover's brother, Christopher Payne of Arden, disagrees.

"He didn't do this," Payne said. "I don't see the evidence they had" to convict him.

Payne was finishing a shift at Miller's Linen Service in Hendersonville Monday afternoon when he sat down to talk about the case, saying the charges and Glover's incarceration have left a void in his family. Payne is now on a mission to get the facts in the case out in the public to help prove his brother's innocence.

"Where was the justice at? I mean, first you had one innocent victim, and now you've got two innocent victims," he said.

"He's just as much a victim now as she was," added Glover's stepfather, Kenneth Payne.

Glover is serving his 13- to 16-year sentence in Raleigh's Central Prison. It's not known when he will be eligible for parole. He is appealing his conviction.

There were hundreds of items, mostly photos, submitted as evidence in the case, but Glover's family says they were used more to paint doubt of his innocence than proof of his guilt.

"The state has to prove that you committed a crime. What evidence did they have that says that he did it, actual true evidence?" Christopher Payne questioned.

Twenty-one-year-old Carter's body was found nude and charred along the Blue Ridge Parkway on the morning of Oct. 19, 2009. A state medical examiner said she died of a chop wound to the head. The fatal blow was delivered with an ax-like instrument.

Her head was wrapped in a blanket and sacked with a black plastic material before she was doused in gasoline and set on fire. Matchsticks were found near her body on the parkway, in her muddy car at a nearby truck stop, in a bag of trash at an Enmark gas station and in Glover's house.

One matchstick that prosecutors hailed as an important link in the chain was found in a pocket in a pair of Glover's laundered jeans in the washing machine at the Hendersonville home he shared with Carter.

Christopher Payne says they are left with questions today that may never be answered. Where is the murder weapon? Where is the gas can? Where is Carter's phone that sent a last puzzling message to her sister that she was with a client the night she died?

And who really sent that message, which spelled out words that Carter usually abbreviated or misspelled, words her sister said she would not have mistaken?

"There's no blood traces (in the house) where anybody's been drug — fact... The mud on her car did not match the mud from the driveway. All these are facts. So the only thing they had tied him to was matchsticks at the scene and a matchstick found in a pair of pants in the washing machine," Christopher Payne said.

If Glover's jeans had been bloody, "where was his shirt at? These are all questions that, if he did it, I want to know the answers to."

Family members and a juror, who asked to remain anonymous, agree on one question: where did the murder happen?

Jurors headed back to deliberate at 12:50 p.m. May 6. After electing a foreman, they took a preliminary vote to see where they stood. The juror said they had 10 votes for guilty and two for not guilty.

"We all agreed that it would have to be second-degree murder," she said. "We could not charge him with first-degree murder when there was no murder weapon found. There was no eyewitness. We don't even know for sure where the murder took place. There's no way to ever know these things."

She remembers the prosecutors warning them going into the two-week trial that it would be "based on purely circumstantial evidence."

Jurors were excused at 6 p.m. on their first day of deliberation. The two holdouts remained unswayed.

"They just wished there was more evidence. We all wished there was more evidence, but the circumstantial evidence was so strong," the juror said.

Christopher Payne said his brother came to his daughter's birthday the day after Carter's body was found.

"I looked him straight in his eyes and I said, ‘Did you do this?' He said, ‘No.' No hesitation, no blinking, nothing," Christopher Payne said.

Glover was his normal, non-emotional self, he added.

But it was that non-emotion that bothered the jury.

The juror said Glover and his attorneys reviewed every photo before the jury saw the images, which she added were "very disturbing."

"He looked at these pictures... and he was emotionless," she said. "That was really interesting to me and I had to put that away in my files to think about."

Some jurors also wondered why Glover was in a wheelchair in the courtroom and if it was a ploy to garner pity. His family said that he has gained too much weight to wear his prosthesis.

Although the jury could not initially agree on a verdict, they did all agree that they believed the testimony of Jerry Knaus, who found Carter's body and fingered Glover as the driver of a truck he almost ran into going up the parkway.

Defense attorney Greg Newman declined to call witnesses in the case, but often grilled the state's witnesses during cross examination.

The juror said she also puzzled over the mystery of the dog that allegedly chewed up a cushion missing on Glover's couch. Underneath where the cushion would have been, detectives found a half-dollar-sized stain of blood.

The cushion, though at Glover's house the morning after her body was found, wasn't seized by detectives that morning and was never entered as evidence in either trial. No signs of a dog were found in the house.

Detectives did not find the bloody crime scene they thought they would find in Glover's home, but did find droplets. Most of the blood in the house, Christopher Payne said, was from Glover, whose infected, amputated leg would bleed when he rubbed it. Glover testified to the infection in the first trial. He chose not to take the stand in the second one.

But the trail of matches, the juror said, was another "hmmm" factor.

"When we came back in the morning, after we had left, it was still 10-2," the juror said. One relented after a sleepless night when he realized they had to base their decision beyond a "reasonable doubt" and not a "shadow of a doubt."

The other holdout asked if the matches were all the same kind of matches. They were, "and he said, ‘OK, I'm in for second-degree," she said. "We heard and saw some very, very disturbing things, hard to see, hard to hear about, but I have to say... it restored my faith in the system."

"I can't say that it made me happy to convict Mr. Glover and it wouldn't have made me sad either," she said, "but I felt OK with my decision, personally, and I believe everyone else did too. It was an experience I'll never forget. I hope I'll never have to do it again."

Christopher Payne, meanwhile, hopes his brother will one day be vindicated for the murder Payne knows in his heart Glover didn't commit.

<p>On May 7, a Henderson County jury found Jermaine Deprie Glover guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, Misty Lynn Carter. But nearly two weeks after the verdict, Glover's family members say he is innocent and there isn't enough evidence to say otherwise. </p><p>After examining evidence presented at Glover's second trial, one juror feels the panel made the right decision. Glover's brother, Christopher Payne of Arden, disagrees. </p><p>"He didn't do this," Payne said. "I don't see the evidence they had" to convict him.</p><p>Payne was finishing a shift at Miller's Linen Service in Hendersonville Monday afternoon when he sat down to talk about the case, saying the charges and Glover's incarceration have left a void in his family. Payne is now on a mission to get the facts in the case out in the public to help prove his brother's innocence.</p><p>"Where was the justice at? I mean, first you had one innocent victim, and now you've got two innocent victims," he said.</p><p>"He's just as much a victim now as she was," added Glover's stepfather, Kenneth Payne.</p><p>Glover is serving his 13- to 16-year sentence in Raleigh's Central Prison. It's not known when he will be eligible for parole. He is appealing his conviction.</p><p>There were hundreds of items, mostly photos, submitted as evidence in the case, but Glover's family says they were used more to paint doubt of his innocence than proof of his guilt.</p><p>"The state has to prove that you committed a crime. What evidence did they have that says that he did it, actual true evidence?" Christopher Payne questioned.</p><p>Twenty-one-year-old Carter's body was found nude and charred along the Blue Ridge Parkway on the morning of Oct. 19, 2009. A state medical examiner said she died of a chop wound to the head. The fatal blow was delivered with an ax-like instrument. </p><p>Her head was wrapped in a blanket and sacked with a black plastic material before she was doused in gasoline and set on fire. Matchsticks were found near her body on the parkway, in her muddy car at a nearby truck stop, in a bag of trash at an Enmark gas station and in Glover's house. </p><p>One matchstick that prosecutors hailed as an important link in the chain was found in a pocket in a pair of Glover's laundered jeans in the washing machine at the Hendersonville home he shared with Carter. </p><p>Christopher Payne says they are left with questions today that may never be answered. Where is the murder weapon? Where is the gas can? Where is Carter's phone that sent a last puzzling message to her sister that she was with a client the night she died? </p><p>And who really sent that message, which spelled out words that Carter usually abbreviated or misspelled, words her sister said she would not have mistaken?</p><p>"There's no blood traces (in the house) where anybody's been drug — fact... The mud on her car did not match the mud from the driveway. All these are facts. So the only thing they had tied him to was matchsticks at the scene and a matchstick found in a pair of pants in the washing machine," Christopher Payne said. </p><p>If Glover's jeans had been bloody, "where was his shirt at? These are all questions that, if he did it, I want to know the answers to." </p><p>Family members and a juror, who asked to remain anonymous, agree on one question: where did the murder happen?</p><p>Jurors headed back to deliberate at 12:50 p.m. May 6. After electing a foreman, they took a preliminary vote to see where they stood. The juror said they had 10 votes for guilty and two for not guilty.</p><p>"We all agreed that it would have to be second-degree murder," she said. "We could not charge him with first-degree murder when there was no murder weapon found. There was no eyewitness. We don't even know for sure where the murder took place. There's no way to ever know these things."</p><p>She remembers the prosecutors warning them going into the two-week trial that it would be "based on purely circumstantial evidence."</p><p>Jurors were excused at 6 p.m. on their first day of deliberation. The two holdouts remained unswayed. </p><p>"They just wished there was more evidence. We all wished there was more evidence, but the circumstantial evidence was so strong," the juror said. </p><p>Christopher Payne said his brother came to his daughter's birthday the day after Carter's body was found.</p><p>"I looked him straight in his eyes and I said, 'Did you do this?' He said, 'No.' No hesitation, no blinking, nothing," Christopher Payne said.</p><p>Glover was his normal, non-emotional self, he added.</p><p>But it was that non-emotion that bothered the jury.</p><p>The juror said Glover and his attorneys reviewed every photo before the jury saw the images, which she added were "very disturbing."</p><p>"He looked at these pictures... and he was emotionless," she said. "That was really interesting to me and I had to put that away in my files to think about."</p><p>Some jurors also wondered why Glover was in a wheelchair in the courtroom and if it was a ploy to garner pity. His family said that he has gained too much weight to wear his prosthesis. </p><p>Although the jury could not initially agree on a verdict, they did all agree that they believed the testimony of Jerry Knaus, who found Carter's body and fingered Glover as the driver of a truck he almost ran into going up the parkway.</p><p>Defense attorney Greg Newman declined to call witnesses in the case, but often grilled the state's witnesses during cross examination. </p><p>The juror said she also puzzled over the mystery of the dog that allegedly chewed up a cushion missing on Glover's couch. Underneath where the cushion would have been, detectives found a half-dollar-sized stain of blood. </p><p>The cushion, though at Glover's house the morning after her body was found, wasn't seized by detectives that morning and was never entered as evidence in either trial. No signs of a dog were found in the house. </p><p>Detectives did not find the bloody crime scene they thought they would find in Glover's home, but did find droplets. Most of the blood in the house, Christopher Payne said, was from Glover, whose infected, amputated leg would bleed when he rubbed it. Glover testified to the infection in the first trial. He chose not to take the stand in the second one.</p><p>But the trail of matches, the juror said, was another "hmmm" factor.</p><p>"When we came back in the morning, after we had left, it was still 10-2," the juror said. One relented after a sleepless night when he realized they had to base their decision beyond a "reasonable doubt" and not a "shadow of a doubt."</p><p>The other holdout asked if the matches were all the same kind of matches. They were, "and he said, 'OK, I'm in for second-degree," she said. "We heard and saw some very, very disturbing things, hard to see, hard to hear about, but I have to say... it restored my faith in the system."</p><p>"I can't say that it made me happy to convict Mr. Glover and it wouldn't have made me sad either," she said, "but I felt OK with my decision, personally, and I believe everyone else did too. It was an experience I'll never forget. I hope I'll never have to do it again."</p><p>Christopher Payne, meanwhile, hopes his brother will one day be vindicated for the murder Payne knows in his heart Glover didn't commit. </p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>